German consumer parcels firm Hermes has launched a simplified brand under its plans to develop apan-European B2C network.
The company is dropping its German-language description “Logistik Gruppe” (“Logistics Group”)and will simply market itself as “Hermes” in future, using a modernised corporate logo. Hermes willretain its well-established claim “Weil’s gut ankommt” (literally “Because it gets there properly”), translating this in its new European markets into appropriate local-language versions focusing oncomfortable shipping and delivery services.
The move has been undertaken ready for the forthcoming international expansion of thecompany. “Hermes is increasingly positioning itself as an international service provider withinnovative services for business and private customers,” said Martin Kreiter, head of marketing.
The revised corporate brand and logo was unveiled yesterday and is being introduced inGermany from October 1 onwards. Full introduction on vehicles and at the 13,000 retail outlets isscheduled for completion by end-2010.
Meanwhile, Regina Müller, Hermes’ head of strategic development, told the Courier and ParcelLogistics conference in London yesterday that there was a clear market opportunity to create thefirst European B2C network for domestic and cross-border parcels. No such operator existed yet andat present customers with cross-border parcels were forced to work with a number of local deliverycompanies or with the international B2B players, she said.
Hermes is currently working on establishing operational standards for cross-border parcels,and the challenge would be to ensure a consistent service offer in all markets, she commented.Other success factors for cross-border B2C delivery would be a reliable returns service, fulltracking and tracing, attractive pricing and cost control.
The European B2C market was forecast to grow to €10.5 billion by 2016, with the three majormarkets of the UK, Germany and France representing 71% of these revenues, Müller said. Italy,Austria, Spain and the Netherlands would be the next-largest markets. But it would not besufficient to offer only these core markets, since customers would want deliveries in smallermarkets as well, she noted.
The customer profile would change in the forthcoming years, Müller said. Traditionalmail-order customers, who currently accounted for the bulk of volumes, would decline in relativeimportance, e-commerce would be the main business driver and SMEs would also become a moreimportant customer group.
Outlining Hermes’ present network in Germany, Britain (Parcelnet), France (Mondial Relay),Austria and Italy (Porta a Porta), Müller said that Hermes’ stake in the Italian company wouldincrease in January 2009 and a full B2C network would be built up in Italy. Hermes bought a 30%stake in Porta a Porta from Swiss Post in October 2007.
